


New Memories In Salem

by PrideofMtVernon



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Abigail Bellweather x Tally Craven, Bellweather Pride, Bellweather Unit Unity, F/F, Jealous Abigail, Looker Tally, Useless Gays, disaster bisexuals, i dont know what their ship name is - Freeform, minor Raelle x Scylla, minor Raylla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-05
Updated: 2020-08-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:35:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25721425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrideofMtVernon/pseuds/PrideofMtVernon
Summary: "Provided its consensual, Tally can sleep with whoever she wants."“But not you?”“I am willing to put unit dynamics ahead of my own feelings.”“So, there are feelings now?”"No, that's not what I," she stammered, trying to sort out what she meant. She loved Tally. They were in the same unit. They had each other's backs, had saved each other's lives. But it's not like she was in love with Tally. Raelle snickered. "Fuck you, Collar. You're hardly in the position to be judging other people's relationships."
Relationships: Abigail Bellweather/Tally Craven
Comments: 11
Kudos: 49





	New Memories In Salem

The soft shuffling of pages and the constant scratch of pen on paper filled the Fort Salem library. It seemed as if every War College first year had taken refuge between bookstacks or at the long wooden tables. Abigail groaned quietly and let her head drop onto the dense pages of _Intermediate Warfare: Seed Strategy and Defensive Positioning_. Her eyes refused to focus and there was only so much brain power she could dedicate to reading about battle tactics.

“I never would have thought the military would require me to read so much,” grumbled Raelle. Abigail huffed in agreement, too tired to comment further. “I bet the Spree don’t have midterms.”

“That’s what makes you want to desert the military? The midterms?”

“We should tell Scylla you want to join. She’ll be pleased,” teased Tally.

“They should totally advertise that.” Abigail raised her arms to illustrate an invisible banner. “Join the Spree. We have weird necros and no midterms.” The three cadets dissolved into giggles, completely unaware of the glares their fellow students sent their way.

“Maybe we should take a break,” Tally suggested. At least one of them had healthy study habits. Abigail’s approach of studying without regard for sleep or food had to be put in check by someone and Raelle’s studying philosophy often involved slacking off for weeks before cramming the day before the exam.

“I can’t.” Raelle looked at the papers in front of with a mixture of fear and disgust. “I can heal people just fine, it’s the theory that tends to scramble me. And I need to get this part, it’s definitely going to be on the exam tomorrow.”

“Well isn’t that for Intro to Corpora Industria? Scylla took that didn’t she?” asked Tally. “Just ask her for help.”

“I don’t want to bother her.”

Abigail snorted. “Collar, please.” Wide blue eyes looked back at her cluelessly. _Shitbird, you useless lesbian._ “Scylla wouldn’t mind helping you. She’s in love with you, remember? Tally, tell her I’m right.”

“She’s right, Raelle. Scylla wouldn’t mind helping.”

“Really, it’s only a matter of time until you admit you’re together.”

“We’re not together!” Someone shushed them angrily. “We’re not,” whispered Raelle guiltily. “Things are complicated.”

Tally lay a sympathetic hand on Raelle’s shoulder. “We know things are complicated, Rae, no one’s doubting that. But you look at her with heart eyes and your voice gets all soft when you talk about her. You might not have kissed her yet, but you sneak out of the dorms at least once a week just to sleep in the same bed as her.”

“Regardless of whether or not you decide to jump Necro’s bones, get her help for the exam. No one in this Unit is allowed to fail.”

She was joking.

Mostly.

“Shit,” Tally looked at her watch and began to gather paper’s haphazardly placing them in folders and notebooks and gathering the stack into her arms. “I forgot. I promised I’d meet with Elena. Granger’s exam is supposed to be a nightmare. Figure I should study with someone who actually has a chance at passing.”

Elena Harsgrove, tall, blonde, athletic. Harsgrove, who Tally had been spending an awful lot of time with. Harsgrove, who flirted with Tally at every opportunity. Abigail pushed the jealousy away and forced herself to smile. “Goodluck studying then. We’ll see you at dinner.” Tally, focused on managing her bookbag and armful of notebooks, nodded distractedly and bid them goodbye. As soon as she was gone, Abigail’s scowl returned.

“You are so jealous.”

“I am not.” She wasn't. She just didn't see why Tally liked the other girl so much. Or why she was spending so much time with her. Or what Harsgrove had that a Bellweather didn’t. "Provided its consensual, Tally can sleep with whoever she wants."

“But not you?”

“I am willing to put unit dynamics ahead of my own feelings.”

“So, there are feelings now?”

"No, that's not what I," she stammered, trying to sort out what she meant. She loved Tally. They were in the same unit. They had each other's backs, had saved each other's lives. But it's not like she was _in_ love with Tally. Raelle snickered. "Fuck you, Collar. You're hardly in the position to be judging other people's relationships."

"That's completely different. I know I’m a poorly functioning disaster. And so does Scylla. You’re still in denial about just how much you like Tally and she’s completely in the dark. " Abigail twirled her pen between her fingers and gave a baleful glare at her abandoned textbook. "Besides, what makes you so sure Tally is even interested in Harsgrove?"

"She came back from their last study date with her mark shiny." That had been a shitty day. She had been caught completely off guard by the jealousy. She had been snarky, short tempered, rude. Tally had given her an earful, rightly so, even if the other girl didn't know the reason for Abigail's attitude.

Raelle seemed to sense the shift in Abigail's mood. "You really like her, huh?" Abigail nodded. "You need to tell her, Bells."

"I was serious about the unit dynamics part. If we get deployed, we need to be in sync, not tied up in emotional chess or worrying about feelings."

"And if this war goes south and you never get to say anything?"

Her chest felt tight at the thought. It could happen to any of them. It _had_ already happened to her and Raelle. "I don't know." She rubbed at her temples. Battle tactics might be extensive but at least it made sense. Manipulating variables to her advantage, positions on the battlefield, organized seeding. All of that was based in rationality. But feelings for a member of her unit? A member of her unit who likely didn't reciprocate? That wasn't something she wanted to think about. "Let's just study. There's no getting out of midterms unless we get deployed and die tomorrow." Raelle eyes lit up, smart ass grin playing on her lips. "That was not a suggestion, Collar."

_Abigail had Tally backed up against the wall. They were close and every intake of breath meant their chests brushing together and warm breath mixing between them. She had one hand on Tally’s waist and another in her hair, tangled in red locks. She tilted Tally’s head to the side, pulling on her hair harder than she needed to. Her eyes appraised the expanse of pale skin on Tally’s neck, at the freckles that spotted her collarbone. “You’re mine, understand?” Her voice was low, commanding. It left little room for argument. She bit the skin at Tally’s collar hard enough to bruise and the other girl whimpered slightly as she traced her tongue over the newly forming mark._

_Suddenly they were on the bed and their clothes were gone, which Abigail would have questioned if all of her attention wasn’t taken up by the woman between her legs. Tally lay on her stomach with her hands wrapped around Abigail hips. Lips pressed soft kisses to the inside of her thigh and Abigail thought she might die if Tally didn’t move faster._

And then Abigail was in her bed at Fort Salem. The deep breathing of her unit the only sound in the room. Her heart was hammering and there was a heat between her legs that demanding attention. _Fuck._

Abigail and her unit made their way through Salem’s downtown. Raelle walked on her right, hands in her pockets, uniform slightly rumpled, polished boots kicking a pebble every few feet. Tally was on her left with her hair carefully braided into a crown, uniform neat with not a thread out of place, and if Abigail liked the way the cold air made the witch’s cheeks turn pink, she kept it to herself.

Banners had been put up for the festival and children ran from one stall to another concerned with nothing but how many desserts could be had before any adults stepped in. She remembered what these festivals had been like as a child. An evening of sweets and firecrackers that couldn’t be weighed down by concerns about ancient enemies or the questionable decision making coming from command.

Yesterday, orders had come from command to make their way to Salem Town. The last of the Unit’s midterms had finished and they sat in the mess hall, along with Scylla, enjoying their newly found, albeit temporary, freedom and discussing the latest orders to come from command. “’Bond with the local civilians to promote trust and maintain relationships,’ those were Anacostia’s words,” Abigail said. “Well, the orders came from the General, I doubt Anacostia would have phrased it like that.”

Scylla rolled her eyes but didn’t seem surprised. “Has that woman ever done anything that wasn’t for strategy? She probably shits tactically. “

“No,” Tally corrected. “Alder doesn’t eat.”

Abigail nodded. “That’s right. But we do know she fucks strategically. Last year at Beltane remember?”

“What happened last year at Beltane?” asked Scylla and Abigail wondered again, why the necros were so far removed from the other witches.

“The same thing that happens every year at Beltane,” she answered. “Alder fucked the witch daddy.”

Raelle groaned, letting her face fall into her hands. “Can we please not talk about Alder having sex?”

“Why, Rae? Is it getting you all hot and bothered?” Abigail ducked as half a croissant made its way through the air. “Interacting with the civilians should be fine as long as Tally attack anyone-“

“It was one time!”

A smile played at Abigail’s lips at the memory. Her childhood memories in Salem were important to her and safely guarded against time and the complicated realities of a world filled with injustice, but even with combat casualties becoming increasingly frequent and her recent experience as a member of the deceased, she was glad for the evening with her Unit. Or at least half of her unit.

Raelle had spotted Scylla with a group of Necros and turned a guilty look towards Abigail and Tally. Bellweather smirked. Collar could be as hard as stone and tougher than nails, but ten seconds near Scylla Ramshorn and she looks like a lost puppy. “Go on, we’ll survive without you.”

Raelle didn’t need telling twice and Abigail let out a low whistle as their Fixer left. “She is _whipped._ ”

“I think it’s sweet.” She raised an eyebrow and Tally shrugged. “Drinks?”

“You read my mind.”

The lights were dim in the bar and the music was a little too loud. Cadets played pool, some of them moving to the small dance floor, and after what might have been one drink too many drinks, Abigail and Tally found a seat in corner booth offering only slight reprieve from the bar’s atmosphere.

Abigail unbuttoned her dress coat at the top in a desperate attempt to cool slightly. It was warm in the bar and she always got too warm when she was drunk _. Shouldn’t it work the other way? Alcohol slows circulation so shouldn’t she be colder?_

A waitress stopped by with water and Tally slid her a glass while sipping from her own. Silence sat between the two of them. Tally didn’t seem to mind it, but to Abigail it seemed deafening. The rational only slightly intoxicated part of her said that confessing her feelings while drunk was a bad idea. But the rest of her, that wanted to know what Tally tasted like, that wanted to know if her lips were really as soft as they looked- that part of her was insistent, and terribly convincing. “Tals?”

“Hmm?”

Her throat felt dry and she sipped her glass, stalling for time. “Um.” _C’mon, Bellweather. Get it together._ “I…Do you think…” She fell silent again, telling herself her lack of confession was due to good judgement rather than cowardice. Tally whispered her name and Abigail turned to face her finding the witch much closer than she expected. Brown eyes, beautiful and dark in the dim lighting of the bar, met her gaze evenly.

Tally leaned forward, kissing her softly and pulling back again before Abigail could register what was happening. “Was that where your sentence fragments were going?”

She blinked slowly, before registering what Tally had said and the smirk that played along her lips. “ _You knew_?”

“I’m not the Unit’s looker for nothing. And you’re not nearly as subtle as you think.”

“And studying with Harsgrove?”

Tally shrugged. “She’s nice. And attractive. And once I realized what was going on, watching your reaction was incredibly entertaining.”

She huffed, realizing she had been played. Bellweather pride didn’t take to injury easily. “Abs?” Tally placed a hand on her cheek and kissed her again.

Abigail was prepared this time and kissed her back firmly, determined to have the upper hand.

Later, stumbling into their dorm, hands pulling at clothes, between cider flavored kisses, Abigail whispered thanks to the Goddess – that Raelle had ended up in Scylla’s room, that Tally had kissed her, that Alder, regardless of her reasons, had sent the War College cadets into Salem Town.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! leave a comment if you're interested: what did you like, not like, characterization, favorite lines?


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